Canberra's plasma kids

Eight-year old Jesse Tait is too busy with his hand-held computer game to pay much attention to the beeping machines around him.

He's curled up in an armchair in the children's ward at Canberra Hospital hooked up to tubes that are pumping into his system a vital infusion of a plasma product called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG.

He's been coming to the hospital once a month for as long as he can remember.

Jesse and his siblings, six-year old Katiah-Anne and three-year old Sonny, have a genetic disorder that requires their immune systems to be boosted regularly.

If not, small infections can turn into life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia.

To stay healthy, the Tait children will need a plasma infusion each month for the rest of their lives.

Sally Gavin from the Red Cross Blood Service says that adults need about 40 donors to supply enough plasma for each infusion.

"The more (the children) grow the more product they'll need, so of course we'll always be on the need to increase our plasma donors as well," says Sally. "And the need for blood donation is just going to double over the next 10 years so we always require new and regular donors to come back in."

Donating plasma takes longer than donating blood - up to 45 minutes in the chair - and donors need to have strong veins.

But during the process plasma is separated from red blood cells in a centrifugal basin. Donors get their red cells back so don't lose any iron.

Jesse and his siblings are kept distracted and entertained with computer games and movies. Even three-year old Sonny is enjoying playing on the computer tablet supplied by the hospital.

"We do work with them to make sure it's not an unpleasant experience," says Katie McKenzie, the assistant Director of Nursing in Paediatrics. "But it is a day out of their lives every month that they're with us instead of doing what they would like to do."

Jesse understands he needs the infusion to prevent getting sick and says he doesn't get bored because of the games the children are allowed to play.

As a nurse takes his blood pressure he tells her the game he's currently playing doesn't really have a winner.

"You just have to try to stay alive for as long as you can," he says, deftly manoeuvring images on the screen to keep the virutal wolves at bay.